The present invention relates to an improved in-wall mounted electronic timer.
Electric timers are used in households, businesses, and institutions to automatically operate electric appliances, lighting, and so on. One type of electric timer is used as a substitute for a conventional electric wall switch. This type of electric timer replaces a conventional wall switch with a timer that has an ability to automatically operate whatever had been previously operated by the wall switch. Thus, if the conventional wall switch had been used to operate an electric receptacle, the electric timer can be programmed to automatically turn on and off whatever is plugged into the receptacle. Likewise, if the conventional wall switch had been used to turn on a lighting fixture, the electric timer can be programmed to automatically turn on and off the lighting fixture.
As electronics become more miniaturized, it is possible to provide more features and greater functionality into electric timers, including multiple ON/OFF times, varying ON/OFF times, etc. However, including such features in an electric timer can complicate programming and operation of the timer by the user. As an electric timer is provided with more features and greater functionality, it becomes desirable to provide a user interface on the electric timer that makes the programming and operation of the electric timer easy-to-use and user-friendly.
One way that can be used to provide a user-friendly interface on an electric timer is to use a push button input panel and a display screen (e.g. an LCD, LED, and so on). The display screen could be used to facilitate use of the input panel push buttons. Although it is possible to provide relatively sophisticated features in an electric timer, a problem to be overcome is how to include an easy-to-use user interface for the various timer functions within the size constraints imposed by the conventional electric switch format. As mentioned above, one type of electric timer is intended to replace a conventional electric switch. A conventional electric switch conforms to a standardized overall size format of approximately 3 inches by approximately 2 inches. Therefore, in order to be used as a replacement for a conventional electric switch, the electric timer should conform generally to the size format of a conventional electric switch.
Push button panels and displays are available in dimensions that can be accommodated in the size format dictated by the dimensions of a conventional switch. However, if push button panels and displays are incorporated into a user interface of an electric timer having these dimensions, the sizes of the buttons and display panel are made small, and thus may be hard to use and less user-friendly.
In some situations, it may be desired to override the electric timer and manually operate the switch. Many electric timers provide a means of overriding the programming functions and operating the electric switch manually. In situations in which it may be desired to operate the switch manually, it is very possible that the place in which the switch is located may be dark, and accordingly it may be difficult to see the timer input panel and display especially if the timer input panel and push buttons are small. In such situations, it may be difficult to operate the switch manually because the timer panel and display, which are well-suited to programming and operating the sophisticated features and functions of the timer, are not well-suited to manually operating the switch in the dark.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved electric timer and interface therefore. It is a further object to provide an electric timer that provides an user-friendly interface for programming and operation as well as provides a way to easily override the programming to operate the switch manually.